Today, the capabilities of computers to provide massive amounts of educational and entertainment information has exploded with the Internet. The Internet has the power to transform society through unprecedented levels of information flow between members. Currently, on-line systems offer a variety of different services to users, including news feeds, electronic databases (either searchable by the user directly on the on-line system, or downloadable to the user""s own computer), private message services, electronic newsletters, real time games for play by several users at the same time, and job placement services, to name a few. However, today, most on-line communications occur merely through text. This currently stands in great contrast to the audio/visual presentation of the alternative electronic medium, television. However, it is expected that as multi-media""s incessant growth continues, audio/visual programs will proliferate and text will become less and less dominant in the on-line environment. Even though these programs will be introduced, the Internet, will remain essentially user unfriendly due to its very massiveness, organization, and randomness. Simply stated, there is no order or direction in the Internet. Specific pieces of information are many times hard to find, and harder yet, is the ability to put that piece of information into a meaningful context.
Television, on the other hand, has been criticized for being a passive mediumxe2x80x94xe2x80x9cchewing gum for the eyes,xe2x80x9d as Fred Allen once observed. Television has always been something you watched, not something you do. Many social critics believe that the passivity television depends on has seeped into our entire culture, turning a nation of citizens into a nation of viewers. While interactive television systems have increased the level of user interaction, and thus, provided greater learning and entertainment opportunities, vast information resources such as databases are inaccessible from such a medium.
What is needed is a means to close the gap between video programming and the information superhighway of the Internet. What is needed is a wider, richer experience integrating audio/visual and textual database elements into an organized unique interactive, educational, entertainment experience. Currently, the Internet is a repository of information on virtually any subject. However, what is needed is a mechanism for combining the user-friendly visual experience of television with the vast information resources of the Internet. What is further needed is a system and method for distributing content with that mechanism combining television programming with Internet resources.
Systems consistent with the present invention combine broadcast television programming and/or video programming which appears on a VHS or Beta tape, CD-ROM, DVD or other medium, or particular content from the Internet, or video programming at a video server (hereinafter xe2x80x9cvideo programmingxe2x80x9d) with the massive Internet, creating a new and powerful educational and entertainment medium. The system allows consumers to receive more information in a more efficient manner than either television or the Internet alone. Consumers not only can see a news report on television, but they can also read pertinent information about the report, as well as explore related information about the story. The program becomes the introduction to a particular subject, rather than the entire subject itself. The act of viewing a program has now become a more engaging, enriching experience.
The system can also create a more intimate relationship between the viewer and the program. The user might be solving problems or performing virtual experiments on the Internet site that a teacher is discussing in an educational television program. Similarly, the consumer might be solving problems that the fictional characters in a television program must solve. In both cases, the consumer is an active participant in the process, rather than a passive observer.
Instead of an undirected and unfocused exploration of Internet sites, by synching specific Internet pages to the video signal, the system puts the Internet in context. The television program producers now can decide what additional information to offer their audience. This material can now be seen in the context of the television program.
An additional advantage is that consumers don""t have to search through the literally hundreds of millions of pages on the Internet to find appropriate material. The material has already been filtered by the program producers and delivered to the consumer automatically.
Another advantage of the system is that it changes the nature of advertising. Since additional information can be given to consumers automatically, advertising can now be more substantive, allowing customers to make more informed choices. Now, the act of purchasing a product seen on television can be streamlinedxe2x80x94the consumer can be given the choice of buying the product instantly using the two-way capabilities of the system.
In addition, users can take advantage of the two-way capabilities of the Internet to respond to polls, to send e-mail or to link to additional sites. For example, a viewer watching a television news program, through the system of the invention, can receive a stream of Web pages which provide additional, specific information relating to the news contentxe2x80x94whether background on the Presidential primaries or the latest change in interest rates.
The video programming and corresponding Internet pages can be viewed on personal computers equipped with a television card, but the open software-based approach enables anyone with a television set and JAVA enabled PC to experience the system of the invention.
By marrying the appeal of video with the two-way data transfer capabilities of the Internet, the system creates a powerful new medium: Video producers and Internet site creators can enhance their content to extend their brand identity and differentiate their program offerings to the millions of people who are spending more time navigating through the resources of the World Wide Web rather than watching television; advertisers can speak more directly to consumers by directly sending Web pages to the consumer instead of only displaying Web addresses in their commercials; and consumers can gain a new level of interest and interactivity over a video-based medium. In addition to providing significant and immediate benefits to broadcasters and advertisers, the system will also present educational programmers with a way to more effectively use Internet resources in the classroom.
Recently, several media companies have joined to create a system for linking the Internet and television on the personal computer, called xe2x80x9cIntercast.xe2x80x9d In this system, content will be provided simultaneously with the TV video signal. This system, however, requires that stripped down Web pages be sent in the vertical blanking interval (VBI) of the video signal, using up to three scan lines limiting effective bandwidth to approximately 28.8 kbps. This approach, however, requires specialized hardware to both insert the Web pages into the VBI and extract these codes at each PC since it takes up to three scan lines of the VBI. Thus, the complexity and cost of the PC is increased. Because the Web pages are transmitted with the video signal, the Intercast system is not a true xe2x80x9ctwo-wayxe2x80x9d system, but merely a one-way xe2x80x9cpiggybackxe2x80x9d system. In addition, the Intercast is an analog video product, and thus, cannot handle digital video data.
Systems consistent with the present invention, on the other hand, are much more flexible, but less complex, systems. The systems support either analog or digital television broadcasts without broadcasters or end-users having to alter their existing systems, thus enabling broadcasters to reach a wide audience within a short time.
In one embodiment, the actual Web pages are not forced into the very limited bandwidth of the vertical blanking interval (VBI). Instead, merely eight fields of line 21 of the VBI are used to deliver the relevant Internet Web page addresses to the PC. These addresses are called xe2x80x9cuniform resource locatorsxe2x80x9d (URLs). The system then directs the particular Web browser to retrieve the identified Web pages from the Internet. Upon receipt of the particular Web page(s), the system syncs the Web page(s) to the video signal, and at the appropriate times, presents the Web pages on one portion of the computer screen with the television video signal, shown in a window on another portion of the screen, and thus, provides the synergistic Internet and television experience. One of the advantages of the system of the present invention is that no specialized chip set need be produced and implemented into the standard PC. Thus, complexity is kept to a minimum.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the VBI is not used to transmit the URLs to the user. In this alternative embodiment, member broadcasters enter the Internet through a member account, and will be provided with a graphical user interface for pre-scheduling Internet addresses, or URLs, for transmission to users at particular times of day. This interface could also be used to transmit real time live transmissions of URLs to users at the same time as a broadcast. The URLs are stored in a xe2x80x9cLink Filexe2x80x9d for later transmission over the Internet to the user at the broadcasters entered time, which corresponds to the broadcast time of an associated program. The timing of URLs could be determined in advance or can be sent out live. This embodiment eliminates the need to place the URLs in the VBI, and also allows the broadcaster to store more than one Link File for transmission to users in different time zones, for example. Further, more than one broadcaster could access the same master schedule if desired, and add or delete certain URLs to personalize the program for their local audiences. Also, personalization can be taken to the single user, or small group of users, by having the system send a different stream of URLs to each user, depending on a unique user profile, for example. Thus, the personalization feature of this embodiment allows each user to receive information uniquely relevant to their interests, demographics, history, etc. This embodiment makes the transmission of URLs to the user even less complex than other embodiments disclosed herein.
Another embodiment permits dynamic reconfiguration of a network for transmitting content, such as that located using the URLs. The network referred to as a distributed community network, includes hubs that may logically reside on any machine and provide control of routing packets containing the content. By using hubs to assist in routing of packets, the burden of routing control at a corresponding server is decreased, enhancing the reliability and efficiency of the network in transmitting content and permitting access to content.
Thus, embodiments consistent with the present invention provide order and direction to the Internet by using television signals to place, orient and control such information in a meaningful context. They also create a more intimate relationship between the viewer and the program by enriching the learning experience through the provision of more in-depth information.
Methods and apparatus consistent with the present invention distribute functions for routing packets of information among multiple machines in a network. The machines include hubs for implementing routing functionality. The hubs receive the packets and, based upon information in the packets, determine target machines or other network entities for receiving the packet.
The methods and apparatus, in particular, transmit content associated with a media program to a user machine. They receive from the user machine a packet including an indication of hierarchical routing information and content using a particular service, and they determine targets for receiving the packet based upon the hierarchical routing information. Based upon the determination, the packet is transmitted to the targets.